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Monthly Archives: June 2012

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“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

A thought recently came to my mind. Though I do not remember exactly how it developed, I thought it was profound because I had never noted such a simple fact in over 24 years of living.

Every gospel account reveals that two criminals were crucified when Jesus was crucified (cf. Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27; Luke 23:39ff; John 19:18). Furthermore, two of these accounts specifically indicate that these criminals were robbers (Matthew and Mark).

These two thieves were being put to death because of what they (probably) never claimed to have taken.

Jesus was being put to death because of what He (boldly) claimed to have given (John 10:28).

Have you considered His gift? Why would you not make the simple switch, and take it?

I just had one of those days where I looked at myself and thought, “So…my whole life repeats in a cycle where I just ‘fake it to make it.’” I was looking at all the spiritual areas in my life that could still use some maturity and time for development, and concluded that I was spinning my wheels in a rut.

Sound familiar to you? Maybe you’ve tried to set goals for yourself. Maybe you’ve begun taking steps to fulfill that goal. Maybe, eventually, your motivation is derailed. Maybe, once again, you’ve digressed back to where you were originally…or worse. That’s when you think, “I know I’m better than this. Why can’t I improve this negative trait, that negative habit, this negative process, that negative endeavor, etc?”

Who knew that I would learn a lesson from ole’ Caleb? Caleb was a positive guy (Joshua 14:8; cf. Joshua 14:6-12). He was one of two guys, out of 12, who truly believed God would empower the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land (cf. Numbers 14; 32:12).

Caleb saw opportunity where everyone else saw failure; he chose to see positive rather than negative. He obviously felt confident, and was blessed as a result.

My wife encouraged me to do this, and I hope you will do the same. She told me to look at her painting she has hung in our dining room. It is predominantly green (with both light and dark shades thereof), along with some very dark black spots scattered throughout. She told me to focus on the darker areas. She said that if the painting represented my life, and the dark green areas represented my weak areas, and then I only focused on those 2-inch square dark/weak areas, then I might conclude that my life was a depiction of a leaf…rather than seeing the true masterpiece which God has painted.

When applied to your life, you’ll begin to see that you have more strong qualities than weak qualities. When you focus on the full, compiled masterpiece instead of the individual strokes and shades, you’ll help free yourself from insecurity and a lot of negative thoughts.

In sum, God uses both our weaknesses and our strengths to compile amazing works of art with our lives…if we, like Caleb, fully follow Him.

Have you made the choice to follow Him? Why would you not make the simple switch, to freedom and confidence both now and beyond?

One of my new favorite shows on TV is called Hollywood Treasure. It’s about a company that buys, sells and auctions movie memorabilia. I’ve seen everything on there from movie props and costumes to behind the scenes equipment. People pay big bucks too. I saw a Yoda puppet go for more money than I may ever have in my life! Occasionally on the show an individual will bring something in but won’t have any sort of documentation to prove that it’s authentic (like the Yoda puppet). In times like these, they call in the experts. Usually a person who specializes in that area will come in and take a look at the item to see whether it’s the real deal. The company buying the item can’t simply take the seller’s word for it. That would be way too risky.